Tuesday

As I was going out on Tuesday evening, I decided to go for my run after work rather than waiting to go to the club and then have a mad dash getting ready to go out.

I only ran twice last week and in fact feel that for the past few weeks I really haven't been putting in enough training. I'm certainly down on last year and at this rate I have no hope of matching my half marathon time, let alone beating it!

So, I decided to do my old 8 mile run, which I did often last year. It was a bit windy but bearable - rain was always a distant threat. I took my daughter's Creative Zen which really made a difference. I was able to lose myself in the music, only problem was when the tune was a slow one, I definitely felt the pace drop!

I didn't find this run as easy as I should have and the lack of long runs is telling. I'm due to go to the club on Thursday and have arranged with two friends to do a long one on Saturday and hopefully should be able to get the Saturday runs in now for the lead-up to the Half Marathon.

It's great having my Garmin - only problem is when you find out that the run you thought was 8.2 miles turns out to be just 7.7.

Distance: 7.7 miles
Time: 1:16:14

Pace: 9.52

Catch-up

I did run last week, I just wasn't in the blogging frame of mind. Went along to the club on Tuesday and had a really nice run. The weather was good, warm but not too humid and the route we went on was very nice. As most of us were racing the next evening, we took it quite easy.

Distance: 6.6
Time: 1:07:22
Pace: 10:06

Wednesday was the last race in the 5K series. I had run enough races to get a t-shirt which I picked up on the night. Oh, I do so like getting running t-shirts!

I had decided that if the weather conditions were good for me, I would go for it. It had been raining all day which made it a bit cooler than it had been for a while. It didn't actually rain for the race and ideally I would have liked a drizzle but nevertheless, I still decided to give it a go.

I set off at a good pace and tried to keep it going. I felt I was slowing down around 3-4K but then gave it all for the last 1K. I was rewarded with a PB and hopefully next season I will get under the 26 min mark.

Distance: 5K
Time: 26:07

For various reasons I decided to forego this mornings run. It's always the same, whenever I decide to put all my effort into something, be it a training plan, or something similar, I fall at the very first hurdle!

Still, not completely ducking out, I did go to the gym. I persuaded my 15 year old son to come along and attend the Junior Gym (10-15 year olds). He wasn't at all sure as he thought he would be the oldest one there, and sure enough, he was! However, he enjoyed it and I'm hoping he will go along again.

I did my full weights programme - which is both Monday and Wednesdays circuit put together. I then intended to swim afterwards, but guess what! I forgot my swimming costume, doh!

Anyway, whilst there I saw a poster advertising The Grim Challenge. It looks very interesting, to say the least. It's described as 8 miles off road running, wading and crawling!

I'm interested and will see if any of my friends are mad enough to consider joining me!

I've managed to haul myself out of bed four mornings in a row to do my weights and swimming. The fourth morning was very hard but I knew Friday was my rest day! I'm not aching from the weights so I'm wondering whether I need to make them a bit harder? The swimming is good, I can feel my hamstrings are working and I'm improving on my technique, just a little.

The run last night was good. It was a lovely evening, still a bit warm for me but most people seemed to think it was ok. There were two groups, one doing 5 mile with efforts and one just doing the 5 miles. Guess which group I fell into!? I really must put in some effort with these training nights but most of the time I'm happy to go along and run at a comfortable pace. I've got the lst 5K race next Wednesday, so if the weather is to my preference (ie cool and drizzly), perhaps I'll go for it there!

Distance: 5.29
Time: 50:35
Pace: 9.33

Variety is the spice of life

I think it is time to put more variety in my training so with that in mind I went to the gym and worked out a weights programme. I'm only doing upper body and stomach as I don't want to work on my legs and make them too tired for running. The programme only takes about 30 minutes but gives my arms, shoulders, chest, back and stomach a good workout. I aim to do this twice a week, Monday and Wednesday mornings before going to work.

On Tuesday and Thursday mornings I am doing 30 minutes of swimming, alternate breast stroke and front crawl. I would love to do all front crawl but don't have the technique yet and need a length of breast stroke to recover my breathing.

I am then running Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the club and a long run on Saturday mornings. This leaves Friday and Sunday as rest days, yippee!

All going well - so far, but then again it is only Tuesday!

Went along to the club tonight and a group of us set off for a 6 mile run. My legs felt strong as I hadn't run for a week. The group fragmented a bit as some went off a bit faster, I hung back and stayed within my comfortable pace. Although I felt strong, it was a warm evening.

It was a very enjoyable run and we all felt so comfortable that we added on a mile loop bringing the total up to 7 miles.

Distance: 7.03 miles

Time: 1:09:32

Pace: 9.53

Week off!

My two little nephews, Thomas and Matthew, have been staying with us for a week while their mum and dad went to a wedding in Prague and stayed on for a few extra days. This meant that I missed out on my running this week, not that I intended to miss out but to be truthful, I was too exhausted by the end of each day! I'd forgotten what hard work it is to look after 2 year and 5 year olds. We had such fun each day going on outings that I feel I got my exercise that way!

Saturday morning

I woke up this morning to bright sunshine - what a change!

Met up with Laura who was still recovering from running a half marathon last weekend at Milton Keynes. This was her first run since then so she didn't fancy going too far or too fast. That suited me fine as I am always ready to take the easy option - especially on a very warm day!

We decided on an hour and chose a route that we thought would take us that long. We had a lot of catching up to do which made the run very pleasant. We went at a pace that was comfortable but could tell before the end that it wasn't going to be an hour long but we decided to just carry on with what we had planned. In all, it measured just over 5 miles and took us 51:53.

Time: 51.53
Distance: 5.14
Pace: 10.06

Thursday evening

After a day of heavy rain it managed to remain dry for Thursday evening's club run. The plan this evening was HILLS! Now, I really do need to train on hills as they are really my downfall - although we don't encounter many hills in this area of England, but when I do, they knock me back.

Unfortunately I wouldn't have time this evening to include the hill work as well in my training session as I was going out afterwards, so I compensated and decided to do a hard run pushing myself to the hill. There were a couple of others that weren't doing the hill as well, and I ran back a mile or so with them and then pushed on for the final mile.

My mile splits were:

8:50
8:55
9:45
9:21
7:49

In the 9.45 mile it was a bit slower because we had stopped to speak to a couple of other club members and the last mile split was not quite a mile as the total distance and time of the run was:

Distance: 4.93
Time: 44:33
Miling: 9.01

A good run, working out at 9 minute miling, even if a bit unevenly paced!

Werrington Guesstimate

Tuesday evening saw a huge number of Bushy Club joggers over at Werrington to compete in the Guesstimate that they hold every year, although this would be my first year of entering. The idea is that you guess how long it will take you to run 5 miles and the person nearest to their estimated time is the winner.

As it was a fairly warm evening and I didn't fancy a hard challenging run I decided to give myself a realistic time of 50 minutes which would be comfortable 10 min miling. It felt quite strange running without a watch and also being unaware of the course so not even knowing how far we had run. I ran the course staying at a comfortable pace but it was clear that either I or the others around me were not in their guesstimated time as one girl I asked said she was down for 45 mins!

It was a lovely fun atmosphere and made a real change from the usual training run.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I ran it in 47:51 - so, ok, not very close to the 50 minutes but pleased that I had found it so comfortable to run around the 9.30 min miling.

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 47:51

Saturday morning

Just before I went away for the weekend last Saturday, I woke early and decided I might as well get up and go for a little jog. I hadn't planned on running over the weekend but as I was awake I might as well. Interestingly, it was a run that I had done many, many times last year when I started training for the half marathon. I was keen to see how far it actually measured on my Garmin - and was quite disappointed in the result! At the start of my training I had thought it was about 5 miles because of the length of time it took me and how hard I found it! Gradually as I improved I realised it wasn't 5 miles and thought it was nearer 4. Ha, imagine my disappointment then when it measured 3.36....

Time: 33:36
Distance: 3.36
Pace: 10.05

5K series and Eye Handicap

I've had two races this week. The first was on Wednesday and it was the third 5K race in a series of 5 over at Ferry Meadows. It was the same course as Race 1 and after a day of rain the sun decided to come out and shine down on all of us. It was going to be far too warm for me to do a PB so I decided to just run the race and try and enjoy it. My friend Rhona had chosen to run this as well, so I kept with her. To be honest, I don't think I could have gone much faster as my legs still felt a bit heavy from Sunday's race.

Distance: 5K
Time: 27:58
Ave pace: 9.00 min miling

The second race was a Handicap race over at Eye. This time, after a day of complete sunshine, the heavens opened about an hour before the race and we had a big thunderstorm! The distance was just under 4 miles and we had each been given a start time based on a previous 5 mile race. My start time was 10:13, with Yvonne just starting off about 20 seconds in front of me and Mandy about 40 seconds.

The weather conditions suited me much better so I put in a bit of an effort for this one. I could see Yvonne had caught Mandy about one third of the way round. I started off quite strong and at one point I thought I was going to catch them up but it was never to be. One guy overtook me and I managed to get back in front of him. Mandy finally pulled away from Yvonne over the last quarter of a mile. I was gaining ground but I just couldn't make up enough. If it had been a longer distance I may have done a bit better but, all in all, I was pleased with my performance.
I don't have the results of my time yet but will update when they come through.

Bushy 25th Anniversary 10K

Our jogging club has been going for 25 years. That's some achievement! And its going from strength to strength with many new faces joining us all the time.

Today, we held a 10K to celebrate the 25th Anniversary and invited several other jogging clubs in the local area to take part.

My target today was to beat the club record for the 10K in my age category! Time to beat: 55:40 set in 2001. I knew it was possible as I had run a faster time for the 6 mile run at Whissendine on Thursday but unfortunately that run didn't count as it was a 6 mile run and not a 10K.

I set off from the starting line a bit faster than I would normally but felt ok so pushed on. By halfway round I knew I was on schedule and could allow myself to just pull back a bit to keep my breathing under control and not blow out!

I missed the 8K marker and by the time 9K appeared, a fellow Bushfield lady was hot on my tail. Her name is Yvonne and she had just joined the club and looked to be in the same age group as me! Oh no, I wasn't about to put in this effort and then not achieve the club record right on the line. I could tell she was struggling a bit whereas I felt I had just kept enough in reserve to push myself forward. I stretched out and prayed that she wouldn't keep with me. I could see the finishing line ahead and went for it managing to stay in front - this time.

Distance: 10K

Time: 53:13

Whissendine 6

All day long the weather had been alternating between showers and sunshine but the rain stayed away for the run.
Whissendine is a lovely village just outside Oundle, very picturesque and also very HILLY! It was a charity run and the village had set up raffle stalls, BBQ, and there was a general feeling of goodwill and cheer with lots of spectators at the start and finish.

My plan was to start off steady and just see how my legs were feeling on the night. The course started off with a downhill section immediately followed by, you've guessed it! an UPHILL section that definitely took out a few people! Once I had recovered from the first hill I got into my stride and tried to enjoy the run, taking in the countryside. I particularly remember Mile 4 being one big hill, going on and on and on......

Thankfully, the half mile leading into the finish was on a downhill section. I was very pleased with my run, especially taking into account the hills - I know I'm not good on hills. In fact, there was another lady runner who kept overtaking me on the hills and then I would catch her up on the flat and this went on throughout the run. Unfortunately, she just beat me to the line!

Mile 1: 9.15
Mile 2: 8.43
Mile 3: 8.51
Mile 4: 9.35
Mile 5: 9.03
Mile 6: 8.43
Avg: 9.01

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 54:10

Went to the club on Tuesday for a run, Rhona came along too. It was a warm evening and we ran the Frostbite route, taking it easy. I thought my legs had recovered from Saturday's long run but once we set off I found my legs quite heavy. All in all, a pleasant run.

5 miles

Saturday morning long run

Super run on Saturday morning. I woke up to a nice sunny morning and filled the biggest water bottle I owned as we intended to do a long run, around about the 2 hour mark.

We all met up at the car park, there were 8 of us in total, all of differing abilities, but we all started off together. Around the hour mark, 3 started to make their way back home which left 5. Not long after that, another one veered off home.

That left the 4 of us, Sheila, Mandy, Laura and Me. We were going well keeping the pace nice and steady. It was a bit warm but not too scorching and I was managing well with my water, taking sips every now and again.

We were on our way back and Laura went the quick way home, just cutting it short by a couple of minutes and the three of us carried on to the car park. I felt good, in fact I felt I could have probably carried on for a bit longer - that's a great way to finish a long run.

You can see, if you click on the map and then click on Analyser you that our mile splits weren't very fast, but that wasn't the plan for today, we wanted a long run that was enjoyable - and it certainly was!

Avg Pace: 10.45

Distance: 11.3 miles

Time: 2:01.40

5K Series - Race 2 - Eye

As you can see from the smiles, the race went well and without incident!

We were lucky with the weather again, rain before the race and just after but not during it. Not that I would have minded, but good news for the marshalls and spectators!

It was a good course, 2 1/2 K out and then turning back on itself, which could have been dispiriting seeing all the front runners on their way back when you are still running out, but in fact it was great to see and cheer on our fellow club runners - lots of encouragement could be heard!

My time was only a few seconds slower than Race 1 and considering the route which had a few more hills in it and there it was quite windy, I'm pleased with that and the very best thing, I was ok at the end, no legs seizing up etc. I had prepared a lot better for this run, pasta at lunch and a banana sandwich an hour or so before the run but I think the biggest factor was that it wasn't too hot.

Time: 26:26

Distance: 5K

Monday evening

I ran a long run on Saturday morning and I have the 5K race on Wednesday, so with that in mind I decided not to go to the club on Tuesday night. Instead, Sheila and I arranged to go out on Monday whilst my son was having his guitar lesson with her husband, Mike.

We set off at a good pace and managed to keep it going most of the way. It was a very humid evening and rain was never far off - in fact, just after we had finished it poured down!

I'm rather wary of Wednesday's 5K after what happened to me at the last one! I'm going to just see how it goes on the night but I'm definitely going to be better prepared for it. I have pasta for lunch and will have a banana sandwich about an hour before the start, which is 7.30. The weather is so unpredictable at the moment, one minute torrential downpours followed by sun, which is amazingly warm. We even had hailstones yesterday! Whilst I'm not wishing for a repeat of the hailstones, I certainly hope the sun isn't out in it's full glory.

Pace: 9:34

Time: 53 minutes
Distance: 5.5 miles

Been a bit slack this week, not only in my running but in writing up my blog.

I went to the club on Tuesday night but there weren't many people there - I think several of them had volunteered to marshal the Race of Life run that was on that evening. However, Laura turned up so I had a running buddy and we stuck together. It was a cool evening, slightly drizzly and we had a good run, about 5 miles.

My legs had still been feeling a bit grumpy around the groin from last Wednesday's 5K so I thought I would give myself a complete rest from exercise and skip Thursdays run.

I met up on Saturday morning with Sheila, Laura and Rhona and the intention was to run for about 1 1/2 hours. The weather forecast for this weekend was terrible, very bad thunderstorms and torrential rain but it managed to hold off for our run. We ran for an hour and Rhona decided that was enough for her. We carried on, intending to run another 3 miles or so, but actually ended up running for another 45 minutes - so I guess we probably ran about 10-11 miles in total.

I certainly felt tired towards the end of the run but definitely a sense of achievement as well.

Time: 1:45
Distance: 10+

Yaxley 7

I had been out for a couple of slow jogs since Wednesday to "test" my legs and they felt a bit tired and aching but nothing much more than that so I decided to go ahead with the run on Sunday. I was determined to take it easy though and not get too carried away.

The weather wasn't looking good, very bad thunderstorms and heavy driving rain! By the time our race started however, the heavy rain had moved on and we were only left with a very slight drizzle. Our jogging club had a good turnout, about 10 of us had turned up. I set off from the starting line and lost sight of Laura, managed to see her and then stuck together for the rest of the run as we had a good comfortable pace going. There was a lovely spirit about the run, lots of support on the streets and terrific marshalling.

The route started off with a hill! That sorted a few of us out and spread the field, there was a lap and then the hill again towards the end. I think between miles 4 to 5, was a bit hard going, it seemed to take forever to see the Mile 5 marker.

I wore my Garmin and have managed to work out how to download the run. If interested, you can click on the map and see more information about the run.




Distance: 7 miles
Time: 65:33

Post race review

I can now officially say I have had the most embarrassing moment of my life. When I told my husband this, he asked if I had come last. No, oh no, coming last is not embarrassing - someone has to. It was worse than that!

But before I go on to the most embarrassing moment of my life, I'll say a little bit about the race. There was a good turnout, especially from our jogging club - about 10 of us I think. The mood was good and although I can't say we were exactly looking forward to the race, we weren't actually dreading it - after all, it's only 5K.

There had been a little bit of rain half an hour before the start but that had cleared up and the sun was out. At the start line I saw a very old friend, Alan and his daughter Katie. Wished them luck and got back in line behind them.

The start was a bit stumbling but we soon got spread out. I set off at a good pace, pushing it but holding a bit back. Sheila, Mandy and Alan set off much faster and I didn't try to keep with them. I was looking out for the first K marker and started counting down. The course was 2 laps round the lake so coming round to the 2K marker I could see the 4K marker as well. I kept up the pace, overtaking on the way, and I had Mandy in my sights. I eventually caught Mandy at just gone 4K. The effort to catch her was enough for me and she eventually pulled away again just before the finish.

I came through the finish line and felt dreadfully thirsty. I went in search of water but couldn't find the table. I remember asking someone and they pointed me in the right direction. It was at this time my most embarrassing moment started!

I could feel my legs starting to seize up - it felt a bit like cramp. I couldn't walk, my calf muscles and the tops of my legs in the groin area were tightening up. I saw one of my team mates and called them over and said I was desperate for a drink and that I couldn't walk, my legs were cramping up.

They called over the physios and I had to lay down right in the middle of the field in the midst of all the runners. Oh my, it was a good job I was already red in the face from the run!

They massaged my legs and although the calf muscles were beginning to ease, my groin felt really painful and I couldn't bend, to either sit up or stand. After 5-10 minutes of massage I was helped to stand. I began to move around and someone got me a power drink - that tasted absolutely wonderful.

I got offers of lifts home but as I only lived about a mile away, I thought it would be good to walk. I started out slow and could feel my legs slowly easing back into life by the time I got home.

The next day, my legs felt extremely stiff, especially my right calf and the groin. That evening I went for a very gentle jog followed by a swim. My legs ached a bit but after a few minutes I felt fine jogging and at the start of the swim, my groin was very sore. Eventually it loosened up and I felt fine.

I've looked up what could have been the cause of my problems and I think it was something to do with electrolyte imbalance. I think what I have learned from this is that I chould not under-estimate the effort it takes to run a race, even if it is only 5K. I know I suffer badly in the sun and heat and it was a very warm evening. I should have taken a water bottle round with me but I didn't because, again, it was only 5K. I hdn't had enough to eat that day, especially carbo-rich foods.

On Sunday I had planned to run the Yaxley 7 (miles). I still intend to but this time I think I will take a sports drink around with me, plan a carbo-rich lunch and most importantly, take it easy and enjoy the run!

Splits:

1K - 5.02
2K - 5.16
3K - 5.11
4K - 5.24
5K - 5.09

Time: 26:14
Distance: 5K